Archive of Our Own

Cyrus had been placed under house arrest for quite a while. It was insane that he wasn’t imprisoned for life for, you know, trying to destroy their current world and create a new one to his liking. Once he had finally left the Distortion World, Cynthia decided the best thing to do with him was to place him under house arrest under the guise that ‘he’d changed.’

Dawn was suspicious of all of it. It had been three years since the ordeal with Cyrus occurred. She was thirteen now. Over the years, she had spent quite a bit of time with Cynthia considering how she was the new Champion and all. With her new responsibilities, she was somewhat involved in overseeing Cyrus. Not fully, given that she was a child, but she knew more than the rest.

She got to know the both of them rather well, whether they were willing to do that or not. Cynthia seemed very fond of her. Cyrus put on a front that he was not.

As she was taking a stroll along the shores with Cynthia, questions were popping through her mind. Dawn knew that Cynthia spent an odd amount of time with Cyrus. Sure, she visited him quite a bit as most of the responsibilities were placed on her, but she visited him more than she supposedly was scheduled to. She never spoke of him in a truly negative tone. Whenever Dawn was with them together, they would look at each other in a way she found weird and were close. Physically close. It gave Dawn suspicions of their true feelings for each other.

“Miss Cynthia?” She piped up. Cynthia looked at her with a warm smile.

“Yes?”

“What do you think of Mister Cyrus?” Dawn looked at her with big eyes full of genuine questioning.

Cynthia became quiet, turning her head away and a faint pink tinting her cheeks. “What do you mean by that?”

“Do you like him?” The blush confused Dawn.

The tall woman gave a moment of contemplation and the color in her cheeks deepened a little. “I suppose I tolerate him.” Her words came out with less bite than they should have held. “I respect him. He has his qualities.”

Dawn considered her words with knit-together brows and a look of concentration. “You visit him a whole lot for just tolerating him.”

Cynthia brought her hands together, rubbing at the joints of her fingers as she contemplated. “It’s my responsibility to. You know that, dear.”

“I peeked at your schedule,” Dawn turned her head to the side to escape Cynthia’s disapproving look. “I know it’s sneaky! I couldn’t help it! But…” She looked back up at her with a determined look. “You visit him more than you’re scheduled to! I don’t get it.”

“I’m merely interested in how he’s doing,” Cynthia answered quickly and vaguely.

Dawn decided to skip past the stage of her dancing around questions. She had her intentions and she was sticking to them. “Do you think he’s cute?”

Cynthia sputtered. “Dawn!”

“Just curious,” Dawn feigned innocence. She found enjoyment in the rare surprised response. “You look at him a lot.”

The tall blonde turned up her head and considered her next words. Her face was rather pink. “He’s not unattractive to me.”

“Do you have a crush on him?”

“Let’s stop talking for a little while,” she tersely and suddenly said.

Dawn pressed her mouth into a thin, amused line. She took this into consideration.

As they reached the end of the shore, Cynthia seemed to all but forget the interaction and they parted ways with grace. Though Dawn had a new plan in store.

On her next, rare, lone visit to Cyrus's house-arrested-state, she decided it was time to harass him with questions as well. She considered the plan more delicately than with Cynthia. Cyrus was more likely to shut everything down and not respond if things became too much, but he also would catch on far quicker.

She was on a couch laid upside down on her back with her hair touching the floor as she stared at a blank TV through the coffee table. She started simply, as she did with Cynthia. “Mister Cyrus?”

The man in question was sitting next to her, reading a book far too thick for her liking. His eye twitched the smallest bit at his interrupted reading. “What.”

“I noticed that Miss Cynthia visits you a lot.” She looked at him from the corner of her eye to calculate his expression. Nothing changed.

“That’s true,” he replied. “It’s her job.”

“More than she’s scheduled for.”

Something flickered in Cyrus’s eyes that was too complex for Dawn to understand. “I wouldn’t know she visits me on unscheduled time. And why do you know that?”

“I peeked at her schedule,” she shamelessly admitted. “I was curious.”

“Hm,” was all he gave in response. An attempt to end the conversation. That just wouldn’t do for her.

“What does she do when she visits you unscheduled?”

That got a reaction. A slight tensing in his grip on his book and a twitch in his mouth. “Nothing more than what she does on scheduled days. I wouldn’t even know she was visiting me in her free time.”

She glanced back at the blank television. She couldn’t help but blurt, “Do you think she’s pretty?”

Dawn flinched at the sudden loud shutting of Cyrus’s book. “I think you’ve spent enough time here today.”

Confused, she complied and rolled over, swinging her body off of the couch and standing up to brush herself off. When she caught a look at Cyrus, she was greeted with a rather red-faced man. Unlike any expression she had seen on him before. The girl left with a warm goodbye that was returned with a curt wave of Cyrus’s hand.

With that, she knew what she had to do.

After recounting all of the data she had collected to Lucas and Barry, she awaited their response to what seemed so obvious to her. They gave her blank, confused stares.

“What are we supposed to do about any of this?” Barry asked. Lucas nodded.

“Isn’t it obvious to either of you?” Dawn felt incredulous.

“It literally is not,” Lucas replied earnestly.

They were sitting at a small café, the two boys across from Dawn. Lucas was resting his chin on his hand and Barry was fidgeting with the slightly chipped wood of the old table. They had long since finished what they’d ordered while Dawn went on and on about her experiences with the adults.

“They clearly have big fat crushes on each other!” She gestured her arms outward for emphasis.

“I don’t see it,” Barry immediately refuted, clenching his hands into fists to stop himself from peeling off too much of the wood. “They’re just adults. Adults are weird. And that’s how they always act.”

“To be fair, they do look at each other weirdly sometimes,” Lucas thought aloud.

“See?” Dawn excitedly exclaimed. “You see it too! Oh my gosh, they’re just so in love and don’t even know it!”

“I don’t get why it matters so much,” Lucas picked his chin up from his hand and set both elbows on the table, leaning forward. “That’s their problem to deal with.”

“I have to deal with the both of them all the time,” Dawn said. “And I can’t stand standing by while they look at each other all lovey-dovey and don’t even realize they want to be boyfriend and girlfriend. We need to help them get together.”

“We?” Barry’s fingers twitched with the need to move. “This is a you problem.” Feeling irritated with his hands, he put them on his seat and sat on them to constrain himself.

“This is a collective problem because if you don’t help me, I will complain forever,” Dawn declared. Lucas grabbed a sugar packet from the container at the end of their table, placing it in front of Barry. The blonde boy immediately released his hands from their prison and started fidgeting with the sugar packet.

“Do you even have a plan?” Lucas asked.

“I do!” She straightened proudly. “I will secretly have them go on a date together at a super-fancy restaurant that we can make reservations for. We’ll get a separate table and watch them from afar. It’ll be perfect.”

“Why do we have to come?” Barry nearly ripped the sugar packet from his movements.

“We need to stack and look like an adult.”

Silence. Dawn’s words settled in.

“Are you saying we’re going to go to a fancy restaurant stacked in a giant trenchcoat to look like an adult?” Lucas flatly questioned.

“Exactly!” Dawn clapped her hands together. “You see it!”

“That wouldn’t work.”

“I know, I know what you’re thinking,” Dawn tried to reason. “They’ll recognize me because I’m the Champion. That’s why you’ll be on top, Lucas. You can talk to people the best. Barry will be on the bottom because he’s strong and fast. I’ll be in the middle. Once we get inside, we can un-stack.”

“That’s not…” Lucas trailed off.

“We don’t have the money for that,” Barry piped in with an unimpressed look.

“It can’t cost that much. They’ve gotta have a kids’ menu for us. We’ll order off of that.”

Lucas adjusted his hat with a sigh, knowing that no matter what he said, Dawn would find some kind of inane justification as to why she was right and he was not. He and Barry were getting roped into her nonsense whether they wanted to or not. And they most certainly did not want to be involved.

So when she dragged the both of them to her house as she prepared their plans to get the two adults in a fancy restaurant without seeming suspicious, it was already set in stone that they were in on it all.

Pacing around the room and seeming far more into the plot than he was acting like he was, Barry rambled ideas on and on. “Maybe we make their reservation, yes, and then we tell them one of us is injured and they need to go to the restaurant to help us. No. That’s stupid. Or maybe we can blindfold them both and guide them to their table together and take off their blindfolds and then, bam! They’re on a date.”

“Both of those feel very illegal,” Lucas shot down. Barry ‘hmph’ed and ran his hand through his hair as he tried to think of more possibilities.

“Maybe I could tell them both that I need them to meet me at the restaurant so I can tell them something important. Then, I’ll give them the same reservation to tell the person who takes you to your table and they’ll think they’re waiting for me but they’re not. And they’ll feel too awkward to leave and have a great and romantic time together!” Dawn was scribbling out the layout of the restaurant on printer paper for no good reason as she spoke.

“That one is the best one you’ve listed yet, but,” Lucas was sat across from Dawn at her kitchen table, “there’s just one teensy-weensy problem. With the whole thing.”

Genuinely perplexed, Dawn lifted her head. “What?”

“Ankle bracelet,” Lucas said simply.

A pause. The concept settled in. Dawn leaned back against her seat and groaned. Cyrus had an ankle-bracelet on him because of his house arrest. He could not leave his home without the authorities being alerted. She really should have thought about that before she made the reservations.

“Doesn’t Miss Cynthia have a key to that for some reason?” Barry blankly thought aloud. Dawn gave a loud gasp.

“You’re right!” Dawn jumped up from her seat to run towards her friend. “Barry! You are the smartest person in the world!” She gave him a very sudden hug, throwing the boy off from his finally on-track mind. She let go just as quickly, shaking him by his shoulders slightly as she spoke. “Plus! It would give me two reasons to go visit Miss Cynthia! I could ask her to come to the restaurant in person and I can try and get the key, too!” She released the poor boy from her grip and slipped towards her scribbled layout of the restaurant.

“Won't she get suspicious?” Lucas scratched the back of his neck.

“We’ll just see.”

So Dawn gave both boys a quick goodbye after that, telling them a rendezvous point so they could go to the restaurant when it was time while the girl collected her adults.

She made quick travels to Celestia Town, giving Cynthia’s door three knocks. A moment of shuffling occurred before the door was open. Cynthia raised her one visible brow. “Dawn! Dear, I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“May I come in?” She politely held her hands behind her back and grinned. Cynthia smiled softly and nodded, letting the younger in and shutting the door behind them.

“What is it that you need, Dawn?” A concerned look crossed her face, as unannounced visits from the girl were not as common as one might think.

“Something super important,” she vaguely explained. “I may or may not have made a reservation for a restaurant for us both. I have something to discuss with you.”

“Really?” Cynthia tilted her head with a worried, confused smile. “And why can you not discuss this with me now?”

Dawn’s confidence momentarily faltered before replying, “It’s important that we are at the restaurant because… I want to be there. Yes. And you have to show up alone because I need to get there earlier, so tell the table lady you have a reservation for six! It’s at six by the way.”

Cynthia brought a hand to her head in a fond sort of exasperation. “You’re a weird one, Dawn. At the very least, I don’t have much to do this evening. And what restaurant is this, again?”

“I’ll send you the directions for it!” Yes, she thought. Her scribbled layout of the streets and the restaurant were becoming useful, much against what Lucas had said. “I have one last request for you.”

“You can’t just tell me the restaurant? Dawn—”

“Can I have the key to Mister Cyrus’s ankle bracelet?” She asked in the least tactful way she could have.

Cynthia took a full stop. “What.”

“I need it. It’s important. I need to take him somewhere later, too. So I thought I would ask you before I forgot.” Dawn fully regained her composure and confidence, clasping her hands in front of her.

“This is a very important item that you’re asking me for with little explanation, dear,” Cynthia spoke much like a mother trying to reason with an unruly child. It wasn’t too far from the truth.

Dawn tried not to falter again, standing firmly and making sure to steady her voice. “I need it. I’ll give it back. But I know I’ll forget if I don’t ask you now. I promise nothing bad will happen!”

Cynthia gave a contemplative sigh and walked away to her bedroom, where she kept the key in her nightstand.

The events led Dawn exactly back to Cyrus’s home he would soon not be bound to. She entered his house without knocking and a loud announcement of her presence, startling the man from his lounging position on his couch looking significantly messier than the put-together look he typically had that Dawn was used to.

He practically jumped off of his furniture with a slight yell and tensed like he was ready to attack someone, only calming slightly when he saw the young girl. He huffed and straightened his large black t-shirt and pulled his pajama pants up from being halfway on his hips. “Dawn.” His voice was terse.

“Sorry, sorry!” She put her hands up in a play of innocence. “It’s very important!”

“Please announce if you will be visiting me at the very least,” Cyrus still gave an irritated aura. “And if you don’t, then knock. I was almost prepared to attack someone.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt your, um,” she glanced at him and his messy look. “Relaxing time.”

“If it worries you so much, this is something adults do called ‘being miserable,’” Cyrus explained with an irritated tone. Dawn noticed how tired he looked and realized that he must have been trying to sleep. It explained his less calculated attitude and how he seemed so much more rude. But her brows furrowed together knowing that she needed him to be well-rested for the date she was putting together. “What is it that you need?”

Dawn brought her hands nervously to tug on the bottom of her shirt, trying her hardest to not seem suspicious or irritate him too much. “I have something important I would like to discuss with you in a private setting.”

Cyrus stood still before her, expression unchanging. As though he was waiting for something. “Well? This is private.”

“No, no!” She shook her head. “You’re super tired! You look like you want to die. It’s super important, as I said, and we need a very mature and private setting.”

“What in the world are you suggesting?” Cyrus rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger before dragging them down his face and crossing his arms over his chest.

“I made reservations for a restaurant and you’re going,” Dawn stated, finally regaining her mojo. She grinned. “You’ll show up for a reservation at six. Someone else will be there to take you to the table. Someone very important, too. I’ll be going there early.” She gave his outfit a look-over. “I need you to dress very nicely, too.”

“Hm,” Cyrus said, clearly intending to not go. “There’s a problem with that.” He lifted his braceleted ankle with an unimpressed look. “Even if I did care to go, I—”

“Don’t worry! I have a key!” She exclaimed, then shifted around in her little bag to pull it out and raise it above her head proudly. Cyrus stared at the metal object with wide, confused eyes and an open jaw.

“How do you have that?”

She rushed over to him, sitting down on her knees by his soon-to-be-free foot. “Doesn’t matter. But I need you to go to this restaurant. Like, a lot. I’ll give you directions and you need to dress super nice and look super nice so don’t forget that either!” She wiggled the key around in a hole she hoped was the keyhole with little room for Cyrus to respond. Thankfully, it was. The thing popped open and was off of his leg.

Cyrus blinked at his free ankle. Dawn looked up at him with satisfaction written on her face. “Okay? So you’re coming. At six. And not looking like a slob.”

The man knelt down with confusion written all over his face. “I have quite a few questions for you.”

“And I will answer none of them. See you at six!” She pushed herself up and bounded for the door, startling Cyrus again with her sudden movements.

———

Dawn made two reservations. One was for Cyrus and Cynthia. The other was for herself, Barry, and Lucas all in one giant and incredibly suspicious trenchcoat. The hostess gave Lucas an odd look as he was stacked atop the other two. Even so, she led them to their table. They unstacked and waited for the arrival of the adults.

Dawn was dressed in a dark gray sweater with a coat on top. She had jeans on and a pair of dark sunglasses to conceal her face. Lucas was wearing a similar outfit, while Barry opted to keep wearing the giant trenchcoat with the sleeves pushed ridiculously far enough back so his hands would poke through, and also wore a fake mustache. They all had their faces deep in their menus to avoid any attention, but their short height and legs dangling above the floor made it clear they were children. They did not see anything wrong with this. No one said anything.

“What time is it? I’m getting sick of staring at Filet Mignon,” Barry whisper-complained.

Dawn checked her Pokétech. “5:56,” she mumbled. “I know these nice places are picky about sending you to your table a little bit early. Maybe they’re just waiting.”

“They don’t even have mac and cheese on here,” Lucas grumbled.

“Well I know for sure they have Filet Mignon,” Barry replied with a bit of snark. “Because I’ve been staring at it for seven minutes.”

Meanwhile, Cynthia only recently arrived at the restaurant and had been waiting to be seated for only a few minutes. She arrived with a reservation for six at night, and was surprised when the last name attached was her own. She said that it was hers, and then waited.

“Will someone else be joining you?” The hostess has asked. She seemed visibly nervous to be speaking to the former Champion, but kept her voice steady.

“I… assumed so?” Cynthia replied.

“Your reservation is for two people.”

Cynthia could only assume that Dawn did not arrive yet, despite saying she would be there earlier. Confused, she simply agreed to wait and sit in the waiting area to be seated.

Then he walked in, keeping his head down and a hand over his hair for the moment of publicity to avoid any possible attention. It failed, of course, as the small gasp from the hostess brought Cynthia’s attention. She turned her head to see Cyrus, dressed all nice and looking rather confused that she was there.

“Cynthia.” He tilted his head, dropping his hand.

“Cyrus.” She folded her hands neatly in her lap.

“What brings you here?” He tried his best to not seem completely thrown off by her presence.

“I have a reservation at six with Dawn,” she explained in a measured tone.

Silence.

“Interesting,” he stated. The pieces started to come together in his mind. “I also have a reservation at six. With the girl.”

“What?” Cynthia’s brows knit together before it all became obvious. “Oh, Arceus… has she been asking you about how you feel about me recently?”

“Strangely enough, yes,” Cyrus replied. “And I assume you’ve experienced the same?”

Cynthia nodded, repressing the small smile that was growing on her lips. She stood from her seated position and turned to the hostess. “I believe both of us are here for the reservation.”

The hostess’s jaw dropped at the proposition of former Champion Cynthia having dinner with former evil Galactic Leader Cyrus.

———

“I’ll have the penne vodka,” Barry smugly told the waiter. He looked back at Lucas and raised his eyebrows with a confident air and leaned over to whisper, “Vodka is alcohol. I’m breaking the rules.”

Lucas rolled his eyes and turned up to the waiter to ask, “Do you have a burger? Like, a normal cheeseburger?”

The waiter seemed to be at a loss. He suggested, “We have paninis?”

“What’s a panini?” Lucas then shook his head. “Nevermind. I’ll take it.”

There were multiple kinds of paninis, so the waiter just assumed it would be best to get something with meat and cheese than to question the weird small customer further. He turned to Dawn. “And for you, Miss?”

“Do you have chicken fingers?” She glanced to her side and saw a woman drinking something bright and yellowy-orange. It looked like orange juice.

“We do not,” the waiter nervously replied. “Are you—”

“Then I’ll have a panini!” She closed her menu and pointed to the drink she noticed. “And I’ll have that drink with it! Thank you!”

The waiter paused, nodded, and collected their menus before leaving. Lucas looked at Dawn. “You don’t know what that drink is!”

“It looked like orange juice.”

“Wait!” Barry ducked down to reduce his height. “They’re here!” Dawn checked her Pokétech. It was 6:05 PM. They had only just arrived to be seated now. She looked over and pushed her sunglasses further up her face.

Over at the table they were being seated at, Cynthia made sure to push her dress down as she sat. It was a floatier one than she would typically wear but a bit tighter at the top. She wore a necklace with a pendant. The dress was a royal blue. She scanned over Cyrus’s outfit, seeing as it was a typical blue button down with a very deep blue tie. He looked a tad bit uncomfortable in the atypical attire.

Cynthia looked out of the corner of her eye and had to stop herself from snorting with laughter, politely covering her mouth with her hand. When Cyrus raised brow in confusion, she stifled herself and cleared her throat. “Don’t make it too obvious, but look to your right.”

He caught a quick peek from the corner of his eye and turned his head a little away, to the side, in surprise. He set his forearm against the table and placed his hand over his mouth.

“Oh, lord,” Cynthia quietly got out. “Why are all three of them here?”

“The blonde one has a fake mustache on,” Cyrus mumbled into his hand. “It’s not even a blonde mustache. It’s black.”

“Does he?” Cynthia tried to contain herself. She glanced over again. “Oh my goodness. I think they’re playing hangman on a napkin.” She caught a twitch in Cyrus’s mouth at that. A hint of a smile. The blonde woman cleared her throat. “Okay. She clearly wants us to be on a date. Let’s just play along. She’s staring at us so much already.”

Cyrus let out a huff and grumbled, “How do people go on dates in social climates like this?” He opened his menu. He cleared his throat and looked at the contents, feeling awkward.

“We’ll start simple,” she said lightly. “What are you thinking of ordering?”

At her small table, Dawn watched as the two adults became engrossed in conversation. She tried to ignore the two boys playing hangman beside her and especially tried her best to not join in. She already figured out the word as Barry fruitlessly guessed wrong letters to no avail. Lucas had put every article of clothing he could on the hangman to keep the game going.

“They started talking more,” she mumbled into her fingernails that she was biting subconsciously. “Do you think it’s going well?”

Lucas glanced over. “Does it look like they’re happy?”

“B, like Barry,” Barry guessed. Lucas finally was able to place a letter in the first slot. “Budew?”

“Yes,” he said exasperatedly. “Finally. Your turn.”

Dawn shushed them as they transferred the napkin and pen. “I wish I could hear what they’re saying.”

Just then, their waiter returned with their food after a short while of waiting. He placed their respective foods in front of them as well as their drinks. Barry had demanded a soda, of which they thankfully had. Lucas got water, and Dawn received her ‘orange juice.’

“Miss Cynthia just laughed a little,” Lucas noted to calm her nerves. “I think they’re doing well. Maybe give it a short break and drink your orange juice. The panini looks good too.”

Dawn relented and picked up the odd, skinny glass. “I wonder why they put it in a cup like this?” Lucas shrugged.

From the other table, Cynthia cut off their conversation short when she noticed the beverage Dawn was holding. It took all of her power to not go over herself. Lowly and quietly, she hissed in a panic, “Cyrus.”

Thrown off by the sudden mood change, he inquired, “What?”

“Dawn has champagne.” Her hold on her menu tightened. “We need to take that from her. Something could go wrong.”

Sensing a possible freak-out, Cyrus attempted to calm the rising tension. “She’ll take a sip and not like it and try to take Lucas’s water. Don’t worry.”

“But—”

“Observe.”

Cynthia did exactly that. She watched Dawn take a sip and everything in her screamed to stand up and take the drink away, but the negative scrunch in expression stopped her short. The girl said something about her drink, and Lucas offered her his water to share. The blonde woman let out a breath of air.

“See? They’re fine,” he looked back at his menu and closed it.

“You know them surprisingly well,” she started with a growing smile, “for someone who claims to care so little for them.”

Cyrus stilled, a faint blush creeping to his cheeks. “They’re merely predictable. All children are.”

“Sure they are,” she said smugly.

The waiter came by again to take their orders. Cynthia ordered a salad and then a lobster for her entreé. Cyrus simply ordered a steak with no appetizer. Their menus were taken.

“Are you not hungry?” Cynthia asked curiously.

“I fill fast,” Cyrus stated simply. This would be the most food he’d had in days. The last thing he ate was a crunchy brick of uncooked ramen because he didn’t want to boil it. “I thought you didn’t like seafood?”

“I don’t,” Cynthia responded simply. Cyrus raised an eyebrow.

At the table of children, Dawn picked away at her panini. It was good, at the very least. She was rather displeased about the orange juice, however. “I think I saw Mister Cyrus blush once. I really wish I could hear what they’re saying.”

“What the hell are you trying to spell, dude?” Lucas tilted his head. “Two letters left and I still have no idea what that is.”

“It’s because you don’t guess the best letters,” Barry grinned. He looked at Dawn. “I bet you want them to kiss.”

“I do.” She placed emphasis on the ‘do,’ feeling impatient. She knew romance took time. She also knew that she wanted them to hurry up already. The girl huffed in irritation and shifted her attention to their game. “Maybe I’ll take a break and join your game.” She skimmed the letters. “Oh. It’s Xerneas.”

Barry’s mouth popped open in irritated shock before he filled it in completely. Lucas took an annoyed bite of his sandwich, muttering something about how he should’ve been able to guess Barry would pick a Pokémon with letters only he would guess.

At the table not so far away, Cynthia had already received her salad and was eating away at it. “Do you want any?”

“No,” Cyrus answered flatly. There was a short silence between the two that was only filled by the occasional clack of the fork against the plate.

After finishing much of her food, Cynthia spoke softly, “I think this is nice. You should enjoy it more. We’ve never really gone on a real date like this.”

“I’m trying to,” Cyrus tensely said. Then he admitted, in a lower voice, “I don’t quite know what else to do. It’s awkward.” Cynthia gently placed a hand over his resting on the table, causing heat to rise to his cheeks again as he turned his gaze away from her eye-contact.

“We can talk about anything,” she said. She gave his outfit a look again. “I think you look handsome when you fix yourself up like this.”

Cyrus ‘hmph’ed, blushing even more. He tugged at his collar slightly, replying, “You look nice as well.”

“Thank you,” she spoke warmly.

“Beautiful, even,” he blurted. His eyes widened at his momentary lack of self-control as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Cynthia breathed a short giggle at that.

She knew she could fluster him further and talk about how his dress shirt hugged his body quite nicely, or how the pants he wore made his waist look smaller. However her thoughts were cut off when her attention was drawn back to his tie. It looked strange. Then she realized, “Is your tie a clip-on?”

Cyrus whipped his stare back to her with wide eyes and a red face. “No.”

She couldn’t help the slightly louder chuckle that escaped her. “So you still don’t know how to tie a tie? After all the years I helped you? You can look for tutorials too!” Cyrus made a noise of embarrassed frustration, to which she proceeded to add, “I wish you did wear a regular tie. Perhaps messed it up a little so I could have fixed it for you.”

Cyrus made a weird, strangled noise and went silent at the proposition. Likely imagining the scene in his head, Cynthia thought. She loved when she could get him embarrassed like such. She continued to stare at him with a loving gaze, making a small rubbing motion on his hand as she looked at him. Cyrus would occasionally tug at his collar and mutter something incomprehensible.

Their food arrived and Cynthia gave a quick thanks before continuing to look at him. “Aren’t you hungry?”

Tha man’s stare finally focused on her and her only again, before he mumbled in an odd voice, “Famished.” Cynthia blinked, feeling heat rise to her own cheeks. Cyrus shook his head as if embarrassed with himself and picked up his fork. “Yes. Very hungry.” He slid his hand out from under hers to pick up his knife.

They ate quietly for a while, Cyrus occasionally glancing at Cynthia’s food with a strange sort of envy behind his eyes. She looked up at him and giggled slightly. “Do you wish you’d chosen the seafood, now?”

“I’m perfectly content with what I have,” Cyrus spoke half-heartedly. He took another bite of his steak, seeming less satisfied with it than he was before. He continued to glower at his food and eat it. Then a forkful of lobster was gently jabbed in front of his face. He pulled his head back, startled, and then realized what Cynthia was trying to do. His blush rose again. “Are you doing this for the girl’s entertainment, or your own?”

“Interpret it how you want,” Cynthia replied simply. She waved around the fork, waiting for him to do as she wanted. Eventually, he leaned forward and awkwardly took the bite, looking very flustered while doing so.

He chewed and swallowed. “Thank you.” He practically jumped when another forkful was placed before him. Affectionately irate, he said, “Cynthia. Please.”

“Hm,” she mumbled. “I’m simply feeding the hungry.”

His expression twitched, and he took the bite again.

Cynthia looked at him for a moment and then switched her fork to her other hand, taking her thumb to the corner of Cyrus’s mouth and wiping off the smallest bit of sauce. The man was searing red. She laughed.

At the table of three, Lucas had long-since taken off his sunglasses and was frantically tapping Dawn’s arm to get her attention. “Stop. Stop playing hangman. Look. Dawn. Dawn!”

She finally whipped her head toward him after having won many a match of Barry’s version of the game. “What?”

Lucas pointed as discreetly as he could at the adults at the other table. Dawn gasped a bit too loudly and almost dropped her pen. The boy shushed her and gestured for her to keep her voice down.

“They’re feeding each other!” She whisper-shouted. Lucas nodded. “They’re- they’re- Barry! Look!”

The blonde looked up after shoving far too much of his food into his face, some of the sauce dripping down his chin. His fake mustache was also dirtied with sauce. “Huh. What am I looking at?”

“They’re being lovey-dovey!”

“Sick.”

Dawn repressed her urge to squeal with excitement. They were finally being happy and acting like a couple! She hoped they would fall in love forever. She had wanted to set them up together for quite a while.

The night proceeded similarly like that. Dawn would find them being sweet and have to keep herself from screaming out of joy. She watched as they mumbled to each other, earning a laugh or two and even a blush. Dawn didn’t quite expect Cyrus to be a more flustered person than Cynthia.

There was the occasional moment where Cyrus made a comment with the hint of a smirk that caused the blonde woman to either laugh a bit too loudly or flush with color in smiling surprise.

The evening began to wrap up. Barry had practically fallen asleep, fake mustache falling off his face as Lucas tried to help him off of his seat. The adults were beginning to leave as well, so it was only just. Dawn began to make her way out with the two boys, feeling very proud of herself.

“Are you happy with all this?” Lucas tiredly asked.

“I think this was my greatest accomplishment yet,” Dawn replied genuinely.

“Even more than becoming the Champion?”

The girl only beamed in response.

———

“Cyrus…” Cynthia started as they left the restaurant together. She couldn’t help but notice the small smile on his face that he was unable to wipe away.

“Yes?” He looked at her with fond eyes, much unlike how he typically looked.

“We weren’t humoring Dawn for most of that at all, were we?”

He gave himself a moment to think. “No. We weren’t.”

She giggled and leaned down a little bit to reach him, planting a short kiss on his cheek. The controlled smile on his face wobbled a little and color flooded to his face. Then, he said lowly, “Just on the cheek? Give me more than that.”

“Sorry?”

He gently placed his hands around the back of her neck and tugged her down for a full kiss. It lasted for a few seconds before he pulled away. “Better.”

A little flustered, she replied, “I like you when you’re confident.”

“Strange,” he said. “I like you when you smile.”

“Quit being cheesy,” she said with no bite behind her words.

“It’s only the truth,” he shrugged. “And where off to now, hm?”

“Well, I happen to know a very nice little house in Celestia Town.” She took Cyrus’s hand in her own.

He smirked. “Really, now? Would that happen to be the home of which the former Champion resides?”

She only smiled. “Perhaps it is.”